The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane - Part 14
By Barbara Lynn Terry

Chapter 1 – The class discusses their projects.

The next morning, Jay and Jimmy’s mothers woke the boys up. Jimmy got his school clothes and went to take his bath. After Jimmy was finished, Jay took his bath. When they were done getting their clothes on, they both went down to breakfast.

Eileen Shephard was making scranbled eggs with bacon bits added to the eggs. She warmed up pre-cooked breakfast sausages, made toast, and set a glass of milk and a glass of orange juice in front of the boys. They ate without talking, because they were both thinking about their projects. The whole class was going to talk about why they drew that particular picture.

Since it was still warm outside, they didn’t need their coats. They got their back packs, gave their mothers hugs and kisses, said I love you, and went to meet the school bus.

When they got to the school, they went directly to their room. They took their projects and showed them to their teacher. Mrs. Minchon looked at them, and told the boys to keep them until they got up and showed the class what they did. Each student had a different theme.

Adelaide Minchon has been a teacher at this school for the last eighteen years. She was not elderly looking, even though she was three years from normal retirement. But, she told the school board that as long as there are young minds to teach, and she had her full mental and physical capabilities, she was going to continue to teach.

She loved shaping young minds. She figured if they have good study habits now, those habits will follow them, even after they are grown up, and in business or working in a factory or foundry.

Mrs. Minchon had told her students to call her Miss Addie. She said that if it was good enough for her parents to call her that, it was good enough for her students. The boys and girls in her class over the years, loved Miss Addie. She was nice and she didn’t yell.

Mrs. Minchon looked at her students coming in to the room. When they were all seated she took the roll. Adter everybody answered here, she greeted the class.

“Good morning boys and girls.”

“Good morning, Miss Addie,” they all said in unison.

“Yesterday, I gave each of you an assignment to either draw a picture or write a little story for the theme I gave you. Are you ready to talk about your projects. They all said yes Miss Addie. Jimmy Shepard, would you please show us what you did for your project?”

“Yes, Miss Addie, thank you. I was supposed to draw an outside theme. This is how it came out.” Jimmy showed the class the picture, then continued. “This is my family and friends having fun outside. This is what I was thinking about. The fun that I had over the summer. Thank you.” He handed his picture to Miss Addie.

“Jay Simons, would you please show us your p roject?”

“Yes, Miss Addie, thank you. I was told to draw a picture of an animal, insect, fish or other animal life. I chose for my picture, a green frog on a lily pad. This is how it turned out.” He showed the picture to the class. Then he continued his explanation. “Even though a frog is not an animal, I drew it anyway. A frog is an amphibian that lives in or near water. Thank you.” He gave his project to Miss Addie.

Miss Addie called on Sharon Eddleston to tell about her project.

“Thank you, Miss Addie. I was given a patriotic project to do. Let me tell you what I did. I drew as best as I could part of the Rocky mountains. If you look at them when the sun is setting, you will see a purple color on the mountains. Then, I drew an American flag underneath the mountains. This is what it looks like.” Sharon showed the mountains looked very realistic. Sharon handed her drawing to Miss Addie and went to sit down.

Sharon Eddleston lived in the town of Pine Forest. She was friends with everyone she met. On some summer days, you would find her on Ginger Lane. She was friends with Jay Simons and the McGuire sisters.

“Donald, are you ready to show us your project?”

“Yes, Miss Addie.” Donald Banks, who lived in the town of Pine Forest got up and went to the front of the class. “I was given a Christmas project. I drew a Christmas tree with lights and ornamanets. I tried to draw Santa putting the presents under the tree. This is how it turned out.” Donald showed the class his drawing.

The Santa Claus that he drew, was very good for a boy his age. Miss Addie went through the class, and one by one, they all got up to show their projects. Their teacher was proud of her students. It was now lunch time.

Most of the students brought their own bag lunch. They all lined up at the classroom door, and Miss Addie dismissed them. They all walked to the cafeteria in an orderly fashion. Jay Simons, Jimmy Shepard and the McGuire sisters all sat together. Sharon Eddleston joined them. They were all talking about the square dance at the community hall this Saturday.

Just because the children were in school, didn’t mean that there were no events going on. When the lake was frozen, and it was tested safe, there was ice skating. None of the children brought their own skates. The skates they used their parents rented. All proceeds from the ice skate rentals went to the Mrs. Mae Harkins Memorial Scholarship Fund.

So, at this school lunch time, the conversation was about the upcoming square dance. Jay Simons has a nice cowgirl square dance outfit. Jay would be wearing that at the square dance. Her outft is a brown A-line skirt, side zipper with a pearlized button, her top is a brown button down, long sleeved shirt with pearlized buttons, and different color flowers around the front of the neck line. She would be wearing brown cowgirl boots to finish the ensemble.

The bell rang ending the lunch. All the children went back to their classrooms in an orderly manner. When they got back to Miss Addie’s room, Miss Addie told the class they were going to discuss the projects they showed before lunch. She called on Sarah Jenkins, who lived just outside of Pine Forest on an unpaved road.

“Thank you, Miss Addie. When I did my project, I asked my mom to help me, and even my dad gave me a few ideas. I did all of the drawing, and even colored it in with my crayons. My mom and dad both said it was a good drawing. Thank you.”

“It is a good drawing, Sarah, and it is colored in very well,” Miss Addie told Sarah. “Next, Francine McGuire.”

“Thank you, Miss Addie. When I did my Thanksgiving project, I copied the turkey from the internet. I’m not too good at drawing turkeys. But the rest of my project I drew. Then colored it in with my colored pencils. All except the turkey, that was already colored. Thank you.”

Then she called on Jay Simons. She wanted to know a little bit more than just how Jay came across with the animal project.

“Thank you, Miss Addie. I copied the frog from the internet, but I drew everything else. The leaf the frog was sitting on and the water around the frog. It was the best that I could do. Thank you.”

“It is the best that anybody can do, that makes what you do great. We can only do the best we can,” Miss Addie told the class. “We are going to dismiss in just a few minutes, so we have time for one more project. Jimmy Shepard, please tell us a little more about your project.”

“Thank you, Miss Addie. When I did my outdoor project, I thought about a day in Saginaw, when my mom, dad, my sister, me and a friend were having fun. I drew what I thought was a good drawing of that day. Thank you.”

“It is a good project, Jimmy. All right class, put your books and papers in your desk, and line up for the buzzer.”

By the time the children put their books, pencils and other school materials in their desks, and lined up, the buzzer ending the school day, sounded. Miss Addie chaperoned the children out to their bus. One nice thing about all of the children in Miss Addie’s class, is that they all lived in or around Pine Forest.

As the bus stopped at Ginger Lane, several parents came up to the bus to get their children. These were the children that lived just outside of town, but was too far for them to walk. Jay, Jimmy and Francine McGuire walked down the lane to their houses. Francine made Jimmy promise to tell Kathy to call her. He said he promised.

Kathy Shepard was in a different class, and took a different bus. But she always got home about ten minutes after Jay and Jimmy did. Jay and Jimmy went to their bedrooms and put their coats away. Then they went down to the kitchen.

“Hello, boys. How was the discussion on your projects?”

“It went great, mom,” Jimmy answered. “We all talked about how and why we came up with what we did. Miss Addie even said we all did great, because we did our best.”

“She is right, too. All we can do, is do our best,” Eileen Shepard remarked. “Do you boys have anything to do for school, tonight?”

“No, mom, we did everything in school,” Jimmy answered his mother.

“Well, go and do whatever. Dinner will be on time tonight. I will call you when it is time for you to get cleaned up.”

“Alright, mom, we will be in my room surfing the net.”

“One of these days, you will have to show me what you look at, when you surf.”

“We will, mom. We do a lot of reading about different subjects. If we have something like what we see on the internet in school, then we will use what we read.”

“What is the boy’s name, that you were friends with in Saginaw?”

“Billy, mom. He loved playing Mortal Kombat. He was a good friend.”

“I could see that. He behaved himself when he was at our house.”

“Yes, mom. Billy’s mom and dad told him that when he was at his friends houses to show respect for that house. He just loved playing Mortal Kombat.”

“Well, I will call you when dinner is just about ready. Then you will have time to wash up for dinner.”

John Shepard came in the kitchen and gave Eileen Shepard a kiss and a nice big hug.

“You’re home early,” Eileen told her husband. “The boys are in Jimmy’s room surfing the internet.”

“I will get cleaned up, then look in on them.”

John Shepard went to wash up, and then went to Jimmy’s room. He found the boys discussing South America; more specifically, the Tierra del Fuego.

“Well, I see we’re having a study group here.”

“Yes, kinda, dad,” Jimmy stated. “We’re looking at the Tierra del Fuego. That is at the very southern tip of South America.”

“Yes, it is,” answered John Shepard. “There are a lot of penguins in the Tierra del Fuego.”

“We are finding that out,” Jay Simons added.”It says here that the male penguin takes care of the baby egg, by keeping it between his feet.”

“Yes, and like the lioness, the female penguin does the fish hunting. Penguins, when they mate, they mate for life. Penguins are a very social aquatic flightless birds. In Australia, in the city of Melbourne, there is a wildlife preserve called Philip Island. There you can see penguins,” John Shepard added to their education.

“I never knew there was so much to learn about penguins, dad,” Jimmy added.

“Maybe you boys could write an essay together, for extra credit. You would be able to impress your teacher with your knowledge of penfuins. I won’t say anything more. I will let you boys study. You can put in the essay what I told you about Philip Island.”

“Thanks, dad,” Jimmy Shepard said with respect.

The two boys continued reading about the Tierra del Fuego. They found out that the Tierra del Fuego was divided between Argentina and Chile in 1881. They were interested in these and other facts about the southern tip of South America.

“Your dad had a great idea, Jimmy. We shouls write an essay together, and give it to Miss Addie. Maybe we will get extra credit for it.”

“You’re right, Jay. Let’s write down the things that are important about the Tierra del Fuego. Then we can put it all together. When we are done, we can show it to our parents and see what th. Peopleey think about it.”

“Let’s do it, Jimmy,” Jay Simons said, excitedly.

The two friends began writing about the different aspects of the Tierra del Fuego. The wtote about the climate, the wildlife, the flora and fauna. The found out, too, that people from all over the wotld vacation at the resorts in the Tierra del Fuego. After writing down all the facts they thought were important enough for an essay, they were tired.

“Boys, get cleaned up and come down to dinner,” Eileen Shepard called up the stairs.

The boys went to wash their hands and face. They went down to the dining room. As is the custom in most households, you stand at your chair, until grace is said. Yes, there are many households that do not say grace, but it shows how thankful they are for the food they have. John /shepard said grace, abd they all sat down.

John Shepard passed the food from left to right. After everyone had their portions, the conversation was about what the boys found out about the Tierra del Fuego at the very southern tip of South America. Jay did have a question though.

“Mom, Dad, why did they divide the Tierra del Fuego between Argentina and Chile?” George Simons andswered his child.

“Did you know that the words Tierra del Fuego is Spanish for ‘Land of Fire’? George asked the two boys. I see that you boys learn quickly. It does help if you study with someone,” George Simons said. “This way you can discuss with each other whatever it is that you are studying.

“Study groups go all the way back to the first school, many centuries ago. This way, you not only study together, but you also help each other with whatever school work you are doing.” John Shepard was proud of his two children. They had these study habits even before moving to Pine Forest.

Jay and Jimmy continued their exciting research of the land called the Tierra del Fuego. As they read, Jimmy began writing the essay. Jimmy put his and Jay’s name on the upper right hand corner. Below that he put geography for the subject and under that he put room 29.

Jimmy wrote while Jay read to him. While Jay and Jimmy were making out the essay, George Simons came in the room. He stood there, watching the boys. The two friends were so engrossed in writing this essay, Jay did not see his father watching them. George left as quietly as he came in. George then went down to the kitchen.

“Those boysare reakky working hard. They didn’t reven know I was watching them.”

Yes, George,” Johm Shepard said, with a smile. “They’re doing an essay on the Tierra del Fuego. They’re going to be at this a while.”

“You know, guys,” Eileen Shepard started to say. “These boys havhe group.e good study habits, and they are learning things on their own. This is a trait that Jimmy and Kathy have had even before moving here. I am very glad that we moved here.”

“This is a town that believes in the old adage, ‘it takes a village’,” George Simons told the group. “We watch out for each other. Ginger Lane is right inside the city limits. We are all one town, and here it takes a village.”

“After they are finished with their essay, it would be nice to read it before they take it to school,” John Shepard told the others.”

“Yes, it would be very nice,” remarked Eileen Shepard. “These boys are putting every bit of energy they have in to making this essay a good one. That ,was a good idea you had, John.”

“They will find out as they grow up, that life is an everyday education,” said John Shepard.

“That is very true, John. Everyday you learn something new,” replied George Simons.

Chapter 2 – The text of the essay.

Jay Simons and James Shepard
Essay- Geography and History
Room 235
January 8, 2018

The Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego (/tiˈɛərə dɛl ˈfweɪɡoʊ/, Spanish: [ˈtjera ðel ˈfweɣo]; Spanish for "Land of Fire") is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, with an area of 48,100 km2 (18,572 sq mi), and a group of many islands, including Cape Horn and Diego Ramírez Islands. Tierra del Fuego is divided between Chile and Argentina, with the latter controlling the eastern half of the main island and the former the western half plus the islands south of Beagle Channel.

We copied this from the internet because we thought that this would be important. We have other things to put in the essay that will not be copied. The southernmost tip of the Tierra del Fuego is at latitude 55 S. The S means south.

People first lived on the Tierra del Fuego dating back to about 8,000 B.C. People from Europe first explored the Tierra del Fuego in 1520 during Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition. The different names for the Tierra delFuego are from the different bon fires that the natives of the Tierra del Fuego did not start until the end of the 1800’s.

This was the time of the Patagonian sheep farming boom and the local gold rush. Today, though petroleum extraction (I had to look that word up in dictionary) in the north and tourism (I had to look that word up, too), are the main sources of income in the Tirerra del Fuego. (source: Wikipedia the free encyclopedia.)

The boys took the essay down to the kitchen.

“We’re done with the essay,” Jimmy told the adults. Jimmy handed the essay to Jay’s father, Grorge Simons.

“You boys did well. There is a lot of information here. Your teacher will be very proud of you.” George showed the essay to John Shepard, Jimmy’s father. John Shepard read the essay.

“Well, this is very good. Miss Addie ought to be mighty of her two best students. You even have the source where you got this information from.” John showed the essay to his wife, Eileen.

“I told them to make sure to put the source at the bottom of the essay,” remarked Eileen Shepard. “This is a good essay, Miss Addoe will like this.”
Next Chapter: The boys read the essay in class.